Cake Decorating

My interest in cake decorating started years ago after graduating from high school. For several years I had admired the decorating talent of my cousin where cake was served to family, such as weddings and anniversaries. I decided to try my hand at it, so I took a crash course with night classes for several weeks. Probably the most tedious thing to learn was making frosting roses! I started out with a small clientele of co-workers once they found out what I was doing. It was just a hobby with not much experience, so I didn’t charge a lot of money. Getting the cakes so cheap was what probably got me more business, and consequently more experience. I gradually raised my prices, but customers were sold on my cakes and kept coming back with more orders.

Several years down the road I was even making my own wedding cakes! I think about that today and wonder "What was I thinking?!" Before long, we were having babies, followed by toddlers, followed by little boys wanting to stick their fingers in the frosting. So my cake decorating took a back seat with me only doing cakes for our four boys’ birthdays. By the time they were older and no longer trying to sneak a taste, I had lost some interest in doing cakes – remembering how tedious squeezing out all those little stars was. My interest was soon aroused about 2003 when I checked in to the picture cakes that I had started hearing about and then seeing in stores. They were awesome! I made an investment of purchasing what I needed to get started and advertised. That was all it took – I not only had some of my old customers back, but also some new customers. I have had many return customers once they have seen what I can do with a cake. I can scan personal photos or pull any picture off of the Internet and print it off on a special edible sheet and put it on their choice of cake. People are amazed at how I can personalize a cake just for them or the special occasion. I have another site geared just toward cake ideas and decorating cakes at http://www.CakeIdeas101.com that I would like to invite you to visit.

I compare my cake decorating business to my online businesses. All of my businesses started out with an investment and advertising. There’s not a business out there that doesn’t require that to some degree. I also make sure when I do a cake that I go the extra mile to get repeat business. With my online businesses, I offer the free service of my mentoring team to help others start their own business – another way of going that extra mile.

Author: Linda Dougherty
Specializes in working with people to show them how to market effectively to earn money online.
http://www.internettowealth.com/

About the books shown Above:

"The Bread And Biscuit Baker": From Wedding Cakes To Candies, You Can Host A Fantastic Bake Sale Or Start Your Own Ole Timey Bakery,These Wonderful Ole Timey Recipes Will Provide You With Many Years Of Pleasant Fundraising And Baking Pleasure.Delectable recipes from the 1800's will have you baking wonderful treats and biscuits that will make even your worst critics' mouths water!In "The Bread And Biscuit Baker's And Sugar-Boiler's Assistant" you'll find delightful, easy to follow instructions for baking all types of delicious breads, cakes, candies, crumpets, custards, ice creams and even lozenges! ONLY $3.00

"Chocolate Recipes for Chocolate Lovers": Chocolate is the ultimate indulgence and Chocolate Recipes For Chocolate Lovers is the ultimate chocolate cookbook.Chocolate Recipes For Chocolate Lovers delivers more than 600 of the best recipes from cookies and cakes to candies and truffles, this eBook is pure chocolate satisfaction for chocolate lovers everywhere The diversity of the recipes make this the perfect cookbook for any chocolate fanatic. ONLY $7.00

"Delicious Diabetic Recipes": Delicious Diabetic Recipes gives you an awesome collection of over 500 recipes!You'll find recipes for things you may have thought you couldn't have any more, like Fudge, Cakes and Cookies. Well the good news is you can still have all those things you just need some recipes that tell you how to make them!You don't even have to be a Diabetic to enjoy these recipes, anyone wanting to cut down on the sugar in their diet will benefit from these recipes.Over 500 Tasty Diabetic Recipes, sure to please your tastebuds and satisfy your diet restrictions.Millions of people have Diabetes and have to maintain a special Diet. But this doesn't mean you can't enjoy the things you like, you just have to make them a little differently. ONLY $7.00

Raising Four Boys

"It’s a boy!" Wow! Who would have thought I would hear that four times? I thought I would hear "It’s a girl!" at least once in my birthing experiences. However, I have not been disappointed to have all boys. I have talked to moms who have either all girls or a mixture and I have come to the conclusion that boys are much easier to raise. Here are a few reasons I feel this way:

1. I spent less money on clothes when they were growing up. Not only did I not have to buy all the frills and matching outfits, but time one boy had outgrown his clothes, his younger brother could wear them. They seemed to grow fast enough that the clothes were not worn out, just too small.
2. We didn’t have to make those frequent trips to the hair salon. My boys all preferred having military cuts as opposed to a style. Great news for me! I bought a good pair of hair clippers that cost about what one trip to the salon would have cost, and they get a buzz job every three weeks. 3. It’s nice to have big strong boys around when I need something done. This saves me getting a hernia if a large object needs to be moved. They are also taller than I am, so that means they can reach high up stuff – saving me having to go hunt up a ladder or stool.
4. I know when I go to a bigger city (I live in a town of 250 people) they can protect me. They are all four 1st Degree Black Belts in Tae Kwon Do. I put a sticker on our suburban window that says "Parents of 4 Black Belts". They other guy needs to at least be warned!
5. Girls tend to be picky eaters – not my boys. When they are growing, they have ravenous appetites. They pretty much eat anything I put in front of them. They even like fried liver and onions, which most kids will turn their nose up at.
6. No dealing with that time of month and all those girlie hormones. No need to say more on that subject.
7. But probably the best part is – I have four sons, but that means I will get my four daughters when they all get married, and I wasn’t the one who had to raise the girls!!!!

Raising children, whether all boys or all girls or a mixture of both is great fun, but is also a great responsibility. I compare it to running my Internet businesses. It takes time, patience, nurturing, understanding, and a few disappointments alone the way. But if you don’t lose heart, raising kids and building your online business will both bring you joy and something you can be proud of.

Author: Linda Dougherty
Specializes in working with people to show them how to market effectively to earn money online.
http://www.internettowealth.com/

Living In a Small Town

There is a recent country song with part of the chorus saying "Everyone dies famous in a small town." If you live in a small town like I do, you can so relate to the words in that song. I reside in a small Kansas town of about 250 people. Yes, everybody knows just about everybody! If someone new moves to town, everyone is soon aware of it. If someone is sick, people sign a card at the grocery story when they stop in, and when the signatures cover the inside of the card it is mailed as a get-well wish from the whole community. Volunteerism in my town is at a high. When the community needs a project done, volunteers come creeping out of the woodwork. Even if some money has been donated, grants are usually how projects are undertaken due to lack of funds because of being a small town. Many of these grants require so many hours of donated labor, which is then matched as worth so many dollars. The people in my town never fail to step up to the plate with that donated labor. Two recent projects come to mind. One is the replacing of water lines all over town. These people helped dig ditches, lay water lines, set meters, redo streets, and some even helped by just feeding the workers. My town has a new project, and that is restoring the town lake. Many volunteers have already put in hours to help clean it up and chop out trees. Their reward? Long-term it’s knowing it is something for the betterment of our community when it’s all done. Of course, they enjoyed the short-term reward at the end of the day with a hot dog roast! Yes, people here in my hometown are great!

There is a downfall to a small town though, and that can be the opportunity of starting a business. But luckily, the Internet can come to the rescue and provide an online business opportunity. I started one, and I can help other people get started along with my mentoring team. No longer does living in a small town hinder people from having a great business. There are, of course, many people who have joined my business because they are tired of the rat race of the big cities. So whatever the case, this opportunity can fill that desire. Any of my mentoring team is willing to help every step of the way to help people succeed. They don’t care what size of town you come from!


Author: Linda Dougherty
Specializes in working with people to show them how to market effectively to earn money online.
http://www.internettowealth.com/

Procrastination-Why Do We Put Things Off?

Procrastination. The dictionary says this is the act of intentionally or habitually deferring or delaying action. Everyone is guilty of it to some degree unless they have trained themselves to be very disciplined. It’s easy to have the mindset of "I’ll do it tomorrow, next week, next month, etc." This can be anything from daily chores around the house to catching up on paperwork at the office, or anything else we just want to put off doing.

I recently decided to tackle my "To Do" list of things I normally try to do the beginning of every year. This included such things as working on photo albums, putting away newspaper clippings from our local newspapers, cleaning out the filing cabinet, and working on my four boys’ scrapbooks and keepsake boxes. This year, when I decided I had procrastinated long enough, I couldn’t believe my discovery. It had been two years since I had done my yearly "To Do" ritual instead of one! Where had the time gone? What was my excuse? Then I thought back to a year ago. Oh yes, right after the first of the year we had a 50th anniversary celebration for my parents. In the following two months we were busy preparing for mine and my husband’s 25th anniversary celebration. That was soon followed by the birth of our first granddaughter. I guess I just got caught up in the excitement of my life that I totally forgot about that "To Do" list last year. Now I am really paying for it to try and get everything caught up. It seemed like such a big job to tackle once I started through that list, but I am self-disciplined enough to make myself do it even when my rebellious inner thoughts keep screaming, "But I don’t want to!"

This whole procrastination scene can be related to what people go through in starting an online business and doing the things they need to do to keep it going. It’s way too easy to just put things off rather than just setting down and doing it. If a person doesn’t just keep plugging away, time passes and pretty soon you realize your business has stagnated rather than grown. Make it a habit to do something for the good of your business on a daily basis. If you take a day off, at least reaffirm to yourself that day why you are doing the business. This will keep you focused and ready to get back at it the next day.

Procrastination……such a horrible little stumbling block in our lives. Don’t let it win over your determination to stay on track.

Author: Linda Dougherty
Specializes in working with people to show them how to market effectively to earn money online.
http://www.internettowealth.com/